Zerodha CEO Calls For Mandatory Calorie Display On Restaurant Menus

Zerodha co-founder and CEO, Nithin Kamath, has praised the decision to display calories and carbs on menus. He suggested showing calories as a percentage of daily intake is ideal. Kamath highlighted its significance by noting that one large chocolate milkshake has over 1000 calories or 40% of an average person's daily intake.

"Most Indians don’t yet understand calories, but potentially, they could as a percentage. But yeah, one step at a time and this mandatory display is a great first step," Kamath wrote on X. 

He added, “Ideally, we need to see calories as a percentage of daily calories, proteins, etc.” He highlighted the potential impact of this approach by noting that “one large chocolate milkshake has 1000+ calories, or 40% of an average person's calorie intake, which is about 2500 calories.” 

Kamath also addressed the challenges displaying calories could cause for companies in terms of sales.

He wrote, "Showing that a food contains 40% of the total calories that a person consumes in a day might reduce the sales of a lot of things." 

Seeing calories, protein, carbs, etc., on a menu is a good start. Ideally, we need to see calories as a percentage of daily calories, proteins, etc.

One large chocolate milkshake has 1000+ calories, or 40% of an average person's calorie intake, which is about 2500 calories.

But… pic.twitter.com/kpt4GciBmQ

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) August 22, 2024

Kamath added that the shift won't happen overnight and it will depend on the recent efforts by the Karnataka government to enforce stricter compliance with nutritional information display regulations. 

Government Crackdown:

Since July 2022, restaurants with ten or more outlets have been required to provide detailed nutritional data on their menus, extending to caterers of airlines as well. The state government has already imposed a ban on the use of artificial colours in restaurants.

This is part of a broader move towards stricter food labelling regulations, including the recent mandate for packaged food makers to display nutritional information in bold letters and larger font sizes.